Computer?  What computer?

This afternoon Jennifer and I (while Mark finished work), went out to explore the colonial center of Guatemala City.  This is the old city core that was founded in the early 1500s and which became the colonial capital in 1776 after Antigua was destroyed by an earthquake.  Unlike Antigua, the colonial city has not been […]

We got back from Antigua shortly before 5pm and were all feeling a bit droopy.  It’s not like we’d done anything particularly strenuous — just walked around the town, picked some coffee beans, and enjoyed a delightful and filling lunch — but still, we weren’t going to make it through the rest of the evening […]

Ever wonder how coffee is made?  I never had.  Probably because I don’t drink coffee.  But coffee is Guatemala’s principal export and therefore a major part of the economy.  As part of our visit to Antigua, we toured Finca Filadelfia, a coffee plantation just outside of the town, and learned a lot more about what it […]

Antigua is Guatemala’s crown jewel.  It was founded in 1543 and served as the capital until it was razed by an earthquake in 1773.  After that, the seat of government moved 45 minutes away to Guatemala City and Antigua was left to become a gorgeous little tourist’s paradise.  Lonely Planet says it’s what Guatemala “would look like if […]

Last time I was in Guatemala, I was backpacking on the last few dollars of my student loans.  The budget was tight and my agenda ambitious, and I stayed in some dreadful lodgings.  This time, you’d think I was in an entirely different country.  Jennifer and Mark live in a spacious condo in a swank modern high-rise […]

Just a quick status update, lest my devoted readers worry (it occurred to me that posting a link to that New Yorker article on a blog that my mother reads may have been better done after I’d returned home). In any case, I am here in Guatemela. I have NOT been murdered or forced to […]

I flew out of Guatemala City in October 2008 after two months of intense Spanish study and adventurous traveling in Central America.  As we lifted off the tarmac, I thought, “Well, that was fun.  I probably will never come here again” — and by “here” I meant, partly, the country of Guatemala (so many countries […]